This is an absolutely divine fragrance! I have to admit to being a sucker for packaging so, this past spring while in Bloomingdale's flagship store, there in front of me was THE most gorgeous display! Think of one of those turn-of-the-century hatboxes - round, tallish with a fine satin ribbon - in a lovely shade of matte, pale, dusty pink. In the middle of the box cover was delicate, sort of flattened, "blossom" constructed of the same pale dusty pink as the box, a blossom made of delicate chiffon. Even if the fragrance hadn't been fantastic, I would have wanted that box just because it was so gorgeous. Valentino sure knows how to market. Not only was the fragrance and bath soap contained in the box delectable, but the fragrance bottle was not your usual run-of-the-mill bottle since this was was adorned with a most unusual single flower of the same matte beige-soft pinkish shade as the hatbox. I continue to enjoy this softly feminine fragrance. Of all the many fragrances in my collection, this is unique in every way.

This perfume smells gorgeous. I can't compare it to Valentina EDP, which I've never tried. But it smells sweet and sexy at the same time, and that's my favourite type of perfume.

I actually think the new Valentina scent--Valentina Acqua Floreale--is even lovelier, but that's an EDT which doesn't last as long. So I think this is better value for money. It's a really lovely scent.

This perfume first caught my eye by its classy presentation - a round feminine bottle with a vintage beigey pink flower that matches the colour of my newly painted bedroom. I just love the way the bottle looks, I moved it to the front of my large and growing collection of bottles.

Being a lover of gourmands this version of Valentina is sweeter deeper and darker than the original Valentina edp, which I did not like at first until it developed and settled into my skin more.

If you like sweet perfumes such as Prada Candy, Lolita Lempicka, Pink Sugar, Gayle Hayman's Delicious Cotton Candy, Britney's Fantasy, Jessica Simpson's Fancy, V&A Oriens, Dior's Addict, Hypnotic Poison & Miss Dior (Cherie), Nina Ricci Ricci Ricci and Armani Code or Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy, I recommend you give this a try on your skin. Valentina and this version did not get much adverstising hype here in North America - I think the Valentino brand is a bigger deal in Europe. I thought Valentino was Italian, but my bottle says its made in Spain.

Valentina and Valentina Assoluto smell fairly unique to me in the line of mainstream scents; the only exception would be to say that VA is a big sister to Italian Salvatore Ferragamo's Signorina edp, which is also a fairly new perfume that did not get much hype, at least in Canada.

Though they may be sweet, to me these scents remind me of Italian desserts and in this lies their novelty in a North American market.

Valentina Assoluto EdP Intense is a, as the name indicates, more intensive version of the Valentina EdP.The woody notes, white truffles and white florals (orange blossom and tuberose, maybe also jasmine) come out more prominent and after all the scents lingers much longer on my skin, developing some slightly darker, deeper notes as the EdP. In fact it smells like I expected the EdP to smell while the EdP smells like I would have expected an EdT of the same scent would smell.I like it a lot and think I will wear it often in the upcoming spring.